4th Day of Jury Deliberations in Robel Phillipos Trial

By Jeralyn, Section Crime in the News
Posted on Fri Oct 24, 2014 at 02:18:24 PM EST
Tags: Robel Phillipos, Boston Marathon Bombing, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev (all tags)

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The jury is in its fourth day of deliberations in the trial of Robel Phillipos, the friend of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev charged with two counts of making a false statement to federal officials in a terror investigation. Count One pertains to his statements to authorities on April 20, 2013, and Count 2 relates to statements made on April 25, 2013.

One of the reasons it may be taking so long: The jury must be unanimous as to any particular false statement he made. While there are only two counts, there are two allegedly false statements in the first count and seven in the second count. The jury has to discuss and arrive at a consensus on each. [More....]

From court documents # 498, 499 and 500, available on PACER:

For Count 1, April 20, 2013, the statements Robel allegedly made that the Government claims are false are the following:

(1) he did not remember going to Dzhokhar Tsarnaev's dormitory room on the evening of April 18, 2013; and
(2) he returned to the door of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev' s dorm room on the evening of April 18, 2013 at approximately 10:00 p.m. with Kadyrbayev and Tazhayakov (PHILLIPOS admitted that he had gone to Dzhokhar Tsarnaev's dormitory room earlier in the afternoon), but no one entered the dormitory room.

For Count 2, the April 25 statements:

(1) he only entered Dzhokhar Tsarnaev's dormitory room on one occasion on April 18, 2013, which was sometime in the afternoon when he spoke to Dzhokhar Tsarnaev for approximately ten minutes;
(2) he did not observe anyone take a backpack out of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev' s dormitory room on April 18, 2013;
(3) he did not see a backpack inside Dzhokhar Tsarnaev's dormitory room on the evening of April 18, 2013;
(4) he did not see any fireworks inside Dzhokhar Tsarnaev's dormitory room on the evening of April 18, 2013;
(5) neither he, Kadyrbayev, or Tazhayakov took a backpack from Dzhokhar Tsarnaev's dormitory room on the evening of April 18, 2013;
(6) he was not aware of Kadyrbayev or Tazhayakov removing anything from Dzhokhar Tsarnaev's dormitory room on the evening of April 18, 2013; and
(7) he did not engage in any conversation with Kadyrbayev and Tazhayakov regarding plans to discard in the trash a backpack, which had been taken from Dzhokhar Tsarnaev's room on the evening of April 18, 2013.

It's not enough for the statement to be false. The jury must also find Robel ma